I'll miss ya, kid
by TheWrongJedi
Summary: Rex and Fives have a conversation about Ahsoka, and how she has left the Jedi Order, and what it means for the future. One-Shot. Takes place in the Outer-Rim seiges.


_"Well," Rex gave the small, but oddly enough, older girl a sideways look. "In my book, _experience _outranks everything." _

_Her lips twitched into a grin. "If experience outranks _everything_," she mocked the way the Commander, or; Captain now, said 'everything''. "I guess I better get some then, huh?" _

_'Spitfire...' He thought, shaking his head, giving the girl a small nudge in the arm, a silent way of letting her know she was accepted by him now. _

* * *

The memory of that day vanished from the Commanders head as the present situation slowly started to come back to him. An explosion sounded not too far off, rattling his bones. He flew back, from his side view, many others had as well. Silence and faint buzz ringed in his ears. His vision was intact; from where he lay, he saw the body's of his brothers fumble around in pain. Some didn't move at all. Rex imagined their screams of pain. And in this instant moment, was grateful the familiar tiny Togruta girl he recalled from his memory wasn't here.

It was sort of a silent mourning that went on through the many soldiers of the 501st. No one dared speak or mention her name, for General Skywalker's sake. Many now looked upon the Jedi with pity; even though their General seemed to be unaffected in a war zone, he wasn't like his confident self anymore outside of the battle field. The General only gave orders now, he didn't interact as a friend to anyone anymore as much as he used to. He would glance over his shoulder every now and then, smiling, but it would vanish when he realized nothing was there. Rex wasn't fooled though, he imagined the man had gone half-mad. The General probably thought he heard her voice, which wasn't a far-out thought, Rex sometimes thought he heard her soft voice as well. Suddenly forgetting that she really was gone, letting his imagination take control of reality, turn, and see nothing but empty space.

The General would then turn back around, and continue to do whatever he had previously been doing. Once, and only once, had he ever let it slip out into the wide open, his imagination that Ahsoka was still there with them. It had been a long meeting about a battle strategy. The Outer-Rim Sieges hadn't been easy. General Kenobi, along with Commander Cody and a few of his men had been in the room. Rex himself, and a few of the men from the 501st had also been in the session. After a long argument that had taken place between the two Generals ended, Anakin had threw his hands up in frustration. General Kenobi rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. The clones shifted around nervously in the war room. They had all decided to drop out the conversation when General Skywalker decided to make the argument get heated, raising his voices. Maybe it was the long hours Anakin had spent by himself locked in his quarters on the _Resolute, _maybe it was the fact that he knew these battles would go on for months, or maybe it was his half-mad imagination again. Rex didn't know, but his Generals next words made him nervous.

Anakin slumped against the hologram of the battle field; various battle scenarios playing over an over again on the screen. He studied it for a moment, then the words spilled out, Anakin hadn't even had time to catch them.

"What do you think, Snips?"

There had been a long silence, everyone was holding their breath. General Kenobi had slowly looked over at Anakin, his eyes widened. General Skywalker hadn't realized what he had done until he looked at the empty space next to him. Rex noticed the way the man had gripped the edge of the hologram projector tightly, crushing it a little with his right hand. Everyone had there gaze fixed on him, no one could look away, they all wondered what he would do next. He simply stood back up, and left the room. That's all there had been to it.

Rex got back onto his feet, kicking a droid in the head that had come too close to comfort next to him. Grabbing his blasters, he took off toward the droids, clearing a path with his sudden rage. The noise was flooding back into his ears, he wished it hadn't. Explosions and blaster-fire and screams and destruction all sounded around him. A few clones who had survived the blast had fallen into step with him, following their new Commanders lead. Rex scanned the field full of dead men and broken battle droids for the familiar tall man with a blue sword. What he saw surprised him even more. Two very distinct blades hummed to life next to him. One green, one short and yellow.

Ahsoka turned and looked at him, screaming. "Wake up, Rex!" She sounded desperate.

_'What?' _

Her face began to vanish, along with the battle field. Her voice became distant.

"Rex!" She screamed, fading away.

"Wake up!" She was gone now, and the voice sounded like her no more. It sounded like... him, actually.

Rex opened his eyes, squinting against the harsh light of the sun. It had all been a dream, Ahsoka wasn't there. It had all been a dream. A weird lonely feeling swept across his heart.

_It had only been a dream? _

The feeling in his heart was replaced by a pain in his leg. He let out a grunt in frustration when he tried to move it. His eyes soon adjusted to the sun, he moved his head to the side, and saw that he _was _actually in the middle of a battle. Downed droids and the bodies of clones were spread out across the grassy land. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. It was Fives.

"You're awake!" Fives exclaimed. Trying to help Rex up into a standing position.

"What happened?" Rex choked out.

"An explosion, it was pretty nasty. You may have broken your leg when you fell. We gotta move, now!"

Fives supported Rex as he limped across the battle field. When the two were a far enough distance away, Fives sat Rex up against a tree, and made quick work of injecting bacta and a numbing medicine into Rex's leg.

"Where is General Skywalker?" Rex asked, gingerly touching his leg.

Fives took off his helmet. "I don't know, he wasn't around when they dropped that bomb though. He should be safe."

Rex looked up as gunships flew overhead into the direction of the war zone, making the leaves on the trees rustle and fall off in the powerful gusts of wind.

"Reinforcements..." Fives muttered, smiling up at sky, watching the gunships soar across the blue sky. After the gunships disappeared from his sight, he looked back down at Rex's pained expression.

They sat in the forest in silence for awhile. Fives expression turned sour. Rex noticed, and wasn't hesitant to speak up.

"What's wrong with you? Don't you know we're about to win?" He tried to sound as if he wasn't in pain.

Fives looked directly into his brothers eyes. He let out a heavy breath.

"Your just like General Skywalker, always trying to hide your emotions."

Rex looked puzzled, he gripped his leg tightly. The numbing medicine was starting to take affect. "What?"

Fives words almost came out in a whisper. "When you were out," he paused, suddenly finding an interest in his helmet. "You... you kept muttering her name."

Rex didn't even have to ask who "her" was.

"I had a dream," Rex began. "She... she just appeared out of no where. Then I woke up." Rex's eyes shifted to the ground, he picked up a clump of grass in his hands, then slowly sprinkled it back down onto the ground.

"I miss her too." Fives admitted. "I didn't know her quite as well as you did, but she alway got us out of jams. She use to visit us in the medical bay. She was good company." Fives chuckled.

"She was a good kid-" Rex caught himself. "Well, I don't guess you can really call her that anymore..."

Fives studied Rex's face for a moment. His eyes slowly drifted to his leg. "We should get back before General Skywalker misses us." He didn't sound optimistic.

"Yeah," Rex agreed, letting Fives support him once again before heading back to the battle. The sounds of blaster fire had ceased, Rex assumed the battle was over. Another Republic victory... of course.

Soon, they would all be back on the Resolute. Rex and many other soldiers would be in the bacta tanks, healing up. General Skywalker would disappear behind close doors. And Ahsoka Tano would not be anywhere in sight. Instead, she would be alone, without her Master, and without the clones. Somewhere safe from the war on a far off planet.

Rex found a smile grace his lips when he remembered her words from his memory.

_"If experience outranks everything, I guess I better get some." _

_'You've had more than enough experience, kid.' _Rex thought. _'More than enough to survive off of.' _

_'I'll miss ya kid...' _

Rex sighed.

"What?" Fives looked back over to Rex's face.

Rex had a deep sadness in his eyes. "I'm glad she left..."

Fives was clearly a little shocked. "Do you mind me asking why?"

"Well," Rex began. "Don't get me wrong Fives, it's not like I'm not sad..." His eyes seemed to glaze over. Fives continued to stare at his brothers face in shock.

"Atleast she won't be around for that damned order... if it ever happens, anyway."

Fives nodded his head in understanding. "Right, good point." He agreed.

"Orders are orders though, Rex." Fives said, looking ahead as General Skywalker and General Kenobi came into view. "Remember that."

Rex stared ahead at General Skywalker sadly. "Yeah," he said. "Orders..."


End file.
